# 1962 Minnesota Vikings season

The 1962 season was the Minnesota Vikings' second in the National Football League. Under head coach Norm Van Brocklin, the team finished with a 2–11–1 record that still stands as the franchise's worst season record in terms of winning percentage, both by today's method of calculation (.179) and the method used at the time (.154), in which ties were not counted as games played. The Vikings have won at least three games in every season since.

## Offseason
### 1962 draft

1962 Minnesota Vikings Draft :
| Draft order | Draft order | Player name | Position | College |
| Round | Overall | Player name | Position | College |
| 1 | 2 | Traded to the New York Giants | Traded to the New York Giants | Traded to the New York Giants |
| 2 | 17 | Traded to the Cleveland Browns | Traded to the Cleveland Browns | Traded to the Cleveland Browns |
| 3 | 30 | Bill Miller | Wide receiver | Miami (FL) |
| 4 | 45 | Roy Winston | Guard | LSU |
| 5 | 58 | Traded to the New York Giants | Traded to the New York Giants | Traded to the New York Giants |
| 6 | 73 | Larry Bowie | Offensive tackle | Purdue |
| 7 | 86 | Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles | Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles | Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles |
| 8 | 101 | Paul White | Running back | Florida |
| 9 | 114 | Marshall Shirk | Offensive tackle | UCLA |
| 10 | 129 | Traded to the Cleveland Browns | Traded to the Cleveland Browns | Traded to the Cleveland Browns |
| 11 | 142 | Traded to the Cleveland Browns | Traded to the Cleveland Browns | Traded to the Cleveland Browns |
| 12 | 157 | Gary Fallon | Running back | Syracuse |
| 13 | 170 | Roger Van Cleef | Offensive tackle | Southwestern State |
| 14 | 185 | Patrick Russ | Offensive tackle | Purdue |
| 15 | 198 | Larry Guilford | End | Pacific |
| 16 | 213 | John Contoulis | Offensive tackle | Connecticut |
| 17 | 226 | Ron Staley | End | Wisconsin |
| 18 | 241 | Junior Hawthorne | Offensive tackle | Kentucky |
| 19 | 254 | Tommy Minter | Running back | Baylor |
| 20 | 269 | Terry Cagaanan | Running back | Utah State |
Notes
* ↑ The Vikings traded their 1st-round selection (2nd overall) to the Giants in exchange for QB George Shaw.
* 1 2 The Vikings traded their 2nd-round selection (17th overall) and 11th-round selection (142nd overall) to the Browns in exchange for DT Jim Prestel, DE Jim Marshall, LB Dick Grecni, RB Jamie Caleb, RB Billy Gault and DT Paul Dickson.
* ↑ The Vikings traded their 5th-round selection (58th overall) to the Giants in exchange for RB Mel Triplett, TE Bob Schnelker and OT Bob Schmidt.
* ↑ The Vikings traded their 7th-round selection (86th overall) to the Eagles in exchange for TE Jerry Reichow.
* ↑ The Vikings traded their 10th-round selection (129th overall) to the Browns in exchange for DE Bob Denton.

## Preseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | August 11 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 24–30 | 0–1 | Husky Stadium (Seattle, WA) | 22,500 |
| 2 | August 18 | at Los Angeles Rams | L 24–33 | 0–2 | Multnomah Stadium (Portland, OR) | 23,544 |
| 3 | August 25 | St. Louis Cardinals | L 21–24 | 0–3 | Parade Stadium (Minneapolis) | 15,500 |
| 4 | September 2 | Baltimore Colts | W 24–13 | 1–3 | Metropolitan Stadium | 27,227 |
| 5 | September 8 | Dallas Cowboys | W 45–26 | 2–3 | Grady Stadium (Atlanta, GA) | 12,500 |

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 16 | at Green Bay Packers | L 7–34 | 0–1 | City Stadium | 38,669 |
| 2 | September 23 | Baltimore Colts | L 7–34 | 0–2 | Metropolitan Stadium | 30,787 |
| 3 | September 30 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 7–21 | 0–3 | Kezar Stadium | 38,407 |
| 4 | October 7 | Chicago Bears | L 0–13 | 0–4 | Metropolitan Stadium | 33,141 |
| 5 | October 14 | Green Bay Packers | L 21–48 | 0–5 | Metropolitan Stadium | 41,475 |
| 6 | October 21 | at Los Angeles Rams | W 38–14 | 1–5 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 33,071 |
| 7 | October 28 | Philadelphia Eagles | W 31–21 | 2–5 | Metropolitan Stadium | 30,071 |
| 8 | November 4 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 31–39 | 2–6 | Forbes Field | 14,462 |
| 9 | November 11 | at Chicago Bears | L 30–31 | 2–7 | Wrigley Field | 46,984 |
| 10 | November 18 | Detroit Lions | L 6–17 | 2–8 | Metropolitan Stadium | 31,257 |
| 11 | November 25 | Los Angeles Rams | T 24–24 | 2–8–1 | Metropolitan Stadium | 26,728 |
| 12 | December 2 | San Francisco 49ers | L 12–35 | 2–9–1 | Metropolitan Stadium | 33,076 |
| 13 | December 9 | at Detroit Lions | L 23–37 | 2–10–1 | Tiger Stadium | 42,256 |
| 14 | December 16 | at Baltimore Colts | L 17–42 | 2–11–1 | Memorial Stadium | 53,645 |
Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text.

### Standings

NFL Western Conference :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Green Bay Packers | 13 | 1 | 0 | .929 | 11–1 | 415 | 148 | W3 |
| Detroit Lions | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 10–2 | 315 | 177 | L1 |
| Chicago Bears | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 8–4 | 321 | 287 | W2 |
| Baltimore Colts | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 5–7 | 293 | 288 | W2 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 6 | 8 | 0 | .429 | 5–7 | 282 | 331 | L2 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 2 | 11 | 1 | .154 | 1–10–1 | 254 | 410 | L3 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 1 | 12 | 1 | .077 | 1–10–1 | 220 | 334 | L3 |
       Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

## Pro Bowl

Second-year halfback Tommy Mason was the only Viking voted to the East–West Pro Bowl game, played January 13, 1963, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and won by the East 30–20.

## Statistics
### Team leaders

| Category | Player(s) | Value |
| Passing yards | Fran Tarkenton | 2,595 |
| Passing touchdowns | Fran Tarkenton | 22 |
| Rushing yards | Tommy Mason | 740 |
| Rushing touchdowns | Tommy Mason Fran Tarkenton Mel Triplett | 2 |
| Receiving yards | Tommy Mason | 603 |
| Receiving touchdowns | Charley Ferguson Tommy Mason | 6 |
| Points | Jim Christopherson | 61 |
| Kickoff return yards | Bill Butler | 588 |
| Punt return yards | Bill Butler | 169 |
| Interceptions | Ed Sharockman | 6 |
| Sacks | Jim Marshall | 9 |
Note that sack totals from 1960 to 1981 are considered unofficial by the NFL

### League rankings

| Category | Total yards | Yards per game | NFL rank (out of 14) |
| Passing offense | 2,216 | 158.3 | 11th |
| Rushing offense | 1,864 | 133.1 | 6th |
| Total offense | 4,080 | 291.4 | 12th |
| Passing defense | 3,123 | 223.1 | 11th |
| Rushing defense | 1,978 | 141.3 | 10th |
| Total defense | 5,101 | 364.4 | 12th |